Comment in 2015

Governments should not meet existing conservation targets using the compensation that developers pay for damaging biodiversity, say Martine Maron and colleagues.

Ecologists and space agencies must forge a global monitoring strategy, say Andrew K. Skidmore, Nathalie Pettorelli and colleagues.

To drive discovery, scientists heading up research teams large and small need to learn how people operate, argue Charles E. Leiserson and Chuck McVinney.

It is time to use evidence-based teaching practices at all levels by providing incentives and effective evaluations, urge Stephen E. Bradforth, Emily R. Miller and colleagues.

Major funding agencies should ensure that large biological data sets are stored in cloud services to enable easy access and fast analysis, say Lincoln D. Stein and colleagues.

Gathering data that answer particular questions is the most effective way to support the Sustainable Development Goals, say Keith Shepherd and colleagues.

Strategies must better balance the costs and benefits of travel and be realistic about the promises of new technologies, say Eric Bruun and Moshe Givoni.

Tighten the requirements for declaring physics breakthroughs, says Jan Conrad.

Researchers and ethicists need to see past what can seem to be gendered debates when it comes to the governance of biotechnology, says Charis Thompson.

Democratically weighing up the benefits and risks of gene editing and artificial intelligence is a political endeavour, not an academic one, says Daniel Sarewitz.

Regional targets and improved market mechanisms could enable the nation's carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2030, say Zhu Liu and colleagues.

Public awareness, rigorous risk research and aligned targets will help policy-makers to increase resilience against natural hazards, say Susan L. Cutter and colleagues.

Now that genetic engineering of mice is so easy, centralized repositories are essential, argue Kent Lloyd and colleagues.

ITER director-general Bernard Bigot explains how he will strengthen leadership and management to refocus the project's aim of harnessing nuclear fusion.

Women are learning about their own health problems through fetal screening. Revise consent forms and raise awareness, urges Diana W. Bianchi.

Four leading researchers share their concerns and solutions for reducing societal risks from intelligent machines.

Putting women and girls at the centre of solar-oven programmes builds communities and reduces pollution, say Laura S. Brown and William F. Lankford.

The research community and the public require a fast, flexible response to the synthesis of morphine by engineered yeasts, urge Kenneth Oye, Tania Bubela and J. Chappell H. Lawson.

Address the needs of poor and rural households, target subsidies and support low-carbon industries, urge Arunabha Ghosh and Karthik Ganesan.

Ten Indian research leaders give their prescriptions, from better funding, facilities, mentoring and education to greater respect, fairness, autonomy and confidence.